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Drip campaigns: building multi-step outreach in the flow builder

A quick campaign does one thing to a list of people. A drip campaign does a sequence of things, waits between them, and changes course based on how each person responds.

That difference is most of the value. Almost nobody replies to a first message. The follow-up three days later is what actually gets answered, and doing that by hand for 200 people is not something anyone sustains.

This guide replaces the old drip campaign post on this blog, which described a version of the product that no longer exists. Written against version 3.7.0.

The campaign list

Drip Campaign in the sidebar opens your list. Each row shows the campaign name, status, how many nodes it contains, how many profiles are in it, progress, and when it was created.

The Drip Campaigns list
One draft campaign with 6 nodes and no profiles yet. The action buttons are analytics, edit, run, duplicate and delete.

Campaigns sit in DRAFT until you start them, so you can build a flow over several sittings without anything going out.

The duplicate button is more useful than it looks. Building a good sequence takes a few attempts, and duplicating a working one to try a variant beats editing the original and losing what worked.

Starting from a template

New Campaign asks for a name and a template. There are ten.

The drip campaign template picker
Ten starting points, from a blank canvas to a thirteen-node sales sequence.
  • Blank Canvas (1 node) starts with just a Start node.
  • Connect & Follow-up (10 nodes) sends a connection request, waits, then follows up with a message.
  • Warm Outreach (9 nodes) visits the profile and engages first, then connects. Builds rapport before asking.
  • Quick Message (6 nodes) messages existing connections immediately.
  • Recruiting Pipeline (12 nodes) warms up candidates: visit, engage, connect with an AI note, then follow up.
  • Sales Outreach (13 nodes) a B2B sequence with a value proposition and multi-touch follow-up.
  • Event Networking (10 nodes) for connecting with attendees before or after a conference.
  • Content-First Outreach (12 nodes) engages with their content first, then connects. The description claims the highest acceptance rates.
  • Thought Leader Nurture builds authority: engage, connect, share insights.
  • Partnership Outreach for agency-to-agency or vendor sequences.

Start from a template even if you plan to gut it. A thirteen-node sequence you cut down to five teaches you more about what the nodes do than a blank canvas does.

The canvas

Create & Open Editor drops you into the flow builder: node palette on the left, canvas in the middle, config panel on the right when a node is selected.

The flow builder canvas with the node palette
A six-node flow: Start, Send Message, Delay, Condition, Follow-up, End. Nodes are numbered in execution order and branches are labelled.

The palette is grouped into four sections.

Actions

Things that happen on LinkedIn.

  • Send Message sends a direct message.
  • Connection Request sends an invite, with an optional note.
  • Profile Visit views the profile.
  • Engage likes their most recent post.
  • Comment on Post comments rather than just liking.
  • Tag Profile applies or removes a tag mid-flow.
  • Remove takes the profile out of the campaign.

Logic

Things that control the path.

  • Delay waits a set time before continuing.
  • Condition branches based on what the prospect did.
  • A/B Split divides the audience so you can test two messages.
  • Degree Filter routes by connection degree.
  • Goal marks a profile as having reached the outcome you wanted.

Utility

  • Note attaches an internal note to a profile.
  • Notification alerts you when a profile reaches that point.
  • End closes a branch cleanly.

Integration

Zapier Webhook and Webhook POST the profile's data to a URL you choose. You pick which fields go out: first and last name, public identifier, headline, profile URL, email and tags among them.

This is how a drip campaign feeds your CRM instead of living on its own island. Put a webhook on the Yes branch after a connection is accepted and every new connection lands in your pipeline without anyone copying anything.

Configuring the Send Message node

Click a node and the config panel opens on the right. Send Message is the one worth understanding properly.

The Send Message node configuration panel
Send Condition at the top, then the message composer with AI Prompt, Contact Variables and Preview tabs. The chip shows the active AI preset.

Send Condition

Three options, and picking the right one prevents the most embarrassing automation failure there is.

  • Always send. Sends regardless.
  • Send only if the recipient has never sent a message. Skips anyone who has already written to you.
  • Send only if no conversation exists. Skips anyone you have any thread with at all.

Use one of the last two on every follow-up node. "Always send" on a follow-up means someone replies to your first message, has a conversation with you, and then receives your scheduled follow-up as though you never read it. People notice, and it undoes whatever the first message earned.

The message composer

Three tabs. AI Prompt uses the same preset and prompt system covered in the AI personalization guide, so a drip message can be generated per profile rather than templated. Contact Variables inserts fields like first name into a fixed message. Preview renders the message against a real profile from your audience.

The message preview tab
Preview against a selected profile from the campaign audience. Recipient name blurred.

Use Preview before every launch. It is the cheapest check in the product and it catches the template that still says "Hi [Name]".

Configuring the Condition node

Condition is what makes the flow adaptive. It offers three triggers:

  • Prospect replied with a message
  • Prospect accepted connection
  • Headline contains keyword, with a keyword box that appears when you select it

Then a Wait before checking value in minutes, hours or days.

That wait matters more than people expect. Checking "accepted connection" after ten minutes routes almost everyone down the No branch, because nobody accepts that fast. Give it two or three days.

The node has Yes and No outputs, and both need somewhere to go. A branch that dead-ends silently drops those profiles.

A sequence that works

If you want one flow to start from, this is a reasonable shape:

  1. Start, targeting a tag.
  2. Profile Visit. A view before an invite makes the invite less cold.
  3. Delay, one day.
  4. Connection Request with an AI note.
  5. Delay, three days.
  6. Condition: prospect accepted connection.
  7. Yes branch: Send Message, condition set to "no conversation exists". Then Goal.
  8. No branch: Delay four days, then Remove.

Eight nodes. Every step has a reason, and it gives up gracefully instead of chasing people who ignored you.

Watching it run

Save, then Start Campaign. The analytics view is where you find out whether the flow works.

Drip campaign analytics
Totals, a campaign health score, failure analysis, activity feed, and a pipeline showing conversion between nodes.

The Pipeline is the part to read. Each node shows how many profiles reached it, the percentage that moved on, and a drop-off count in red. That tells you exactly which step is losing people, which is not something you can work out from a total.

Campaign Health is a single score with a label like Needs Attention or Moderate. Treat it as a prompt to look at the pipeline, not as a verdict.

Reading a failure

The Profiles table lists everyone in the campaign with their current step, status and last action. Expand a row and you get that profile's full timeline.

A per-profile execution timeline showing a failure
One profile's timeline: Start succeeded, Send Message failed with "LinkedIn rejected the message", and the remaining steps are marked Upcoming.

This is worth dwelling on, because it is a real failure and a common one.

"LinkedIn rejected the message" almost always means you cannot message that person. Usually they are not a 1st degree connection, and LinkedIn does not allow direct messages to people you are not connected to without InMail.

The fix is structural, not a retry. If a flow opens with Send Message, its audience has to be existing connections. If you are reaching people you are not connected to, the flow has to open with Connection Request, then a Condition checking acceptance, and only message down the Yes branch.

Check this table after the first hour of any new campaign. A flow that is going to fail for everyone fails for the first profile too, and an hour of attention saves a week of a campaign quietly doing nothing.

What to remember

  • Start from a template and cut it down.
  • Set a Send Condition on every message node so you never talk over a reply.
  • Give Condition nodes days, not minutes, to check for a response.
  • Connect both branches of every Condition.
  • Preview before launching, and read the Profiles table after.

That is the series. Getting started covers installation and the dashboard, your first search campaign covers simple outreach, AI personalization covers per-profile messages, and this one covers sequences.

Questions to help@linkedroid.com.

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